Monday 30 January 2017

Synesthesia

Back in the 90s I was really into what was going on in the Louisville scene. I really liked Endpoint, and they helped open my eyes (or rather, ears) to some other great bands that were around at that time. Initial Records were leading the charge and helping these bands get pushed around the world. I used to order directly from Initial Records by sending cash in an envelope. Andy who ran the label was always nice and helpful, and also patient with my questions about pressing info. Some of the earliest records I remember mail ordering from him was the Guilt 'Synesthesia' 10", the Falling Forward 'Hand Me Down' 12" and the Enkindel 7". They all came out in 1994, and I taped them onto a cassette so that I could listen to them on my walkman whilst walking around town. The order used to be Falling Forward, then straight into the Guilt 10", then the Enkindel 7". And they're all great records which I still listen to. So after coming up for 23 years of listening, I was pretty stoked to find a test press of the Guilt 10" for sale recently.

As you can see, this is numbered 3 out of 10. I've seen pics of a few Initial Records test pressings before and for most there are only 3 copies. So ten copies of this one is a relatively high number.

Oh, and in case you've never seen the actual cover before, here's what it looks like:

Back in the 90s, Guilt always stood out as a really interesting band. Each record sounded like a big step up from the last. But they also had interesting aesthetics and ideas going on which kind of made them stand out. For example, all of the songs on this record are named after colours, but the back cover doesn't name the songs using words, just colour blocks. After this record they got picked up by Victory (this was in an era when Victory was a good label) and they put out a full length LP and (unbelievably) another 10", on which all of the songs were untitled. Kinda funny that their entire vinyl discography consists of only 5 releases, of which 40% are ten inches.

If anyone happens to have any other Guilt or Initial Records tests that they don't want, hit me up. I'll gladly take 'em.

2 comments:

Mike said...

I loved the first Guilt 7 inch, but don't remember this 10 inch leaving much of an impact on me. I'm going to have to go back and revisit it.

geoff said...

i remember not liking that record, but i have to admit i havent listened to it in well over a decade. also, the fact that it came out on a 10" made me not like it even more, haha. but if i remember correct this came on a really nice purple vinyl? (i think i have the 7" on three different colors?)